‘Til Tuesday

After negotiating through the night without a resolution, the Transport Workers Union announced that they will put off a decision to strike until Tuesday. At the same time, the union decided to walk out on two private bus lines in Queens (a complicated scenario involving the MTA taking over private lines and the Taylor Law).

Suffice it to say, the weekend is intact!

The MTA offered to increase pay slightly, from two 3 percent raises over 27 months to 3 percent yearly raises for the next three years. It lowered its demand that workers contribute 2 percent of health care premium costs to 1 percent. But it didn’t move from its original demand that the age of retirement for new workers be raised to 62 from 55; that’s obviously the big issue for the MTA.